Crossword clues for ichneumon
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Ichneumon \Ich*neu"mon\, n. [L., fr. Gr. ?, lit., the tracker; so called because it hunts out the eggs of the crocodile, fr. ? to track or hunt after, fr. 'i`chnos track, footstep.]
(Zo["o]l.) Any carnivorous mammal of the genus Herpestes, and family Viverrid[ae]. Numerous species are found in Asia and Africa. The Egyptian species ( Herpestes ichneumon), which ranges to Spain and Palestine, is noted for destroying the eggs and young of the crocodile as well as various snakes and lizards, and hence was considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians. The common species of India ( Herpestes griseus), known as the mongoose, has similar habits and is often domesticated. It is noted for killing the cobra.
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(Zo["o]l.) Any hymenopterous insect of the family Ichneumonid[ae], of which several thousand species are known, belonging to numerous genera.
Note: The female deposits her eggs upon, or in, the bodies of other insects, such as caterpillars, plant lice, etc. The larva lives upon the internal tissues of the insect in which it is parasitic, and finally kills it. Hence, many of the species are beneficial to agriculture by destroying noxious insects.
Ichneumon fly. See Ichneumon, 2.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1570s, originally a weasel-like animal in Egypt, Latinized from Greek ikhneumon, literally "searcher, tracker," perhaps because it hunts crocodile eggs, from ikhneuein "hunt for, track," from ikhnos "a track, footstep, trace, clue," of unknown origin. Used by Aristotle for a species of wasp that hunts spiders (a sense in English from 1650s).
Wiktionary
n. 1 The (vern: Egyptian mongoose), (taxlink Herpestes ichneumon species noshow=1), found in Africa and southern Europe. 2 The ichneumon wasp.
WordNet
n. northern African mongoose; in ancient times thought to devour crocodile eggs [syn: Herpestes ichneumon]
Wikipedia
In medieval literature, the ichneumon or echinemon was the enemy of the dragon. When it sees a dragon, the ichneumon covers itself with mud, and closing its nostrils with its tail, attacks and kills the dragon. The ichneumon was also considered by some to be the enemy of the crocodile and the asp, and attack them in the same way. The name was used for the "pharaoh's rat", mongoose, or Egyptian mongoose, which attacks snakes; it can also mean " otter".
Ichneumon may refer to:
- Ichneumon (genus), genus of wasps
- Ichneumonidae, family of ichneumon wasps
- Egyptian mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon
- Indian gray mongoose, Herpestes edwardsii
- Ichneumon (medieval zoology), the enemy of the dragon in medieval literature
Ichneumon is a genus of the parasitic wasp family Ichneumonidae.
Usage examples of "ichneumon".
But natural selection can and does often produce structures for the direct injury of other species, as we see in the fang of the adder, and in the ovipositor of the ichneumon, by which its eggs are deposited in the living bodies of other insects.
The pig and the wild boar, the long-eared hare, the hedgehog, the ichneumon, the moufflon, or maned sheep, innumerable gazelles, including the Egyptian gazelles, and antelopes with lyre-shaped horns, are as much West Asian as African, like the carnivors of all sizes, whose prey they are--the wild cat, the wolf, the jackal, the striped and spotted hyenas, the leopard, the panther, the hunting leopard, and the lion.
While as an earwitness he was able to tell how many wheat beetles, including pupas and doodle bugs, how many ichneumon flies and flour beetles resided in it, he was able with his ear to the sack to indicate the exact number of mealworms -- Tenebrio molitor-- present in a hundredweight of wheat flour.
Does an ichneumon wasp study ornithology before it finds the one species of spider that will do for her eggs, and stings it just so in order that it may remain alive?